Cleaning Your Garbage Disposal

When it comes to any modern kitchen, the garbage disposal is a vital piece of equipment. It helps break up food waste and turn it into a manageable format, while also helping keep the kitchen sanitary and eco-friendly.

At Rapid Repair Experts, our plumbing repair services include all areas of your home’s garbage disposal. In reality, though, the savvy DIY homeowner can often address basic garbage disposal clogs on their own – if you want to try this yourself, here are a few basic steps we can recommend.

Water Flush Begin the process by plugging the opening to your garbage disposal in the sink, then filling the sink with hot water until it’s about three inches deep. Next, add some basic dish soap to the standing water, then mix it in thoroughly.

From here, remove the plug in the sink and allow the water to flush down into the garbage disposal. Make sure the water is still hot – this will turn any grease or oil into liquid, allowing it to more easily be removed in our next steps.

Ice Cubes and Salt Your next step may seem strange, but it’s quite effective. Drop two cups of ice and one cup of salt into the disposal after all the hot water has cleared, and then turn on the disposal. Don’t worry about the noise – this is natural.

While the disposal runs, keep the tap water on. The combo of water, ice and salt will remove all the various sludge and debris from the disposal, plus the grinding of the ice will help sharpen the disposal blades.

Scrub Finally, it’s time to scrub – but never by placing your own hand inside the garbage disposal. This is dangerous, and should not be done. Rather, use a long-handled scrub brush or an old toothbrush to reach down inside and clean any remaining sludge from the walls. If you want, use some more dish soap as you scrub to help get things even cleaner. When you’re done, rinse the entire disposal with water.

For more on how to clean your garbage disposal at home, or to learn how a plumber from Rapid Repair Experts can help with any other important area of need, speak to our friendly staff today.